The State of One's Room
by ashleighjanebinder
Summary: Pearl decides that it is time that Amethyst cleans up her room, with disastrous consequences.
1. Chapter 1

Amethyst jumped up onto her bed, layed back against her pillows and positioned herself with her hands clasped behind her head. She let out a deep sigh as she looked around at the organised chaos that surrounded her. The piles of trash filled the room from floor to ceiling. Just the way she liked it. Amethyst closed her eyes, intending to take an afternoon nap, but was straight away disturbed by a loud crash.

"Oh, gosh darn it". Pearl. Her voice, shrill, rang out around the whole room, echoing off of the piles of Amethyst's belongings.

"Pearl." Amethyst growled, as she jumped up and off her bed in an instant. "What the hell are you doing in here?"

Pearl appeared in front of Amethyst, holding a black, solid object of unknown origin in one hand, and clutching her other dramatically to the back of her head. "This, this ... this _thing_ just fell on my head. This is just _unacceptable_ Amethyst. Completely unacceptable. Steven comes in here. He could be _killed_."

"That _thing_ is part of a rock I smashed in Kindergarten. And it was trying to tell you to get out of my room." Amethyst screamed at Pearl, as she pulled out her whip and widened her feet to get better balance.

"Now come on Amethyst." Pearl said with a nervous chuckle. "Don't be unreasonable. I am merely suggesting that we tidy your room. It hardly warrants such a violent response."

Amethyst bit her lip as she realised that Pearl was right. At least about the violence. She put her whip away and said with a sigh "Fine. I don't want to hurt you. But seriously, get out. It's my room and I don't want to tidy it." She pouted.

"You don't see do you Amethyst? This is not a request. I demand that you help me tidy this cesspit." Pearl's voice got higher as she spoke, until it was almost a shriek. Realising this, she cleared her throat and stopped talking. She stuck her nose in the air and sniffed. "I have had quite enough of this nonsense." She said, in a normal octave. "You know, I read somewhere once that the state of one's room reflects the state one's mind and vice versa. Looking at this" she spread her arms out, gesturing towards the whole of Amethyst's room, "I should say your mind is a psychologist's wet dream."

"Don't psychoanalysis me, Pearl."

"The term is psychoanalyse." Pearl said haughtily. "As if I would. Freud was a crazy old fool. You should have seen his Oedipus Theory. He suggested that children want to -" Pearl, starting to ramble, was cut off by Amethyst.

"If my mind is a mess, this is why. You. You always correct me. You always tell me to tidy my room. You undermine every decision I make. " Amethyst spoke loudly, her voice filled with vehemence. She then started to speak in barely more than a whisper as her eyes began to fill with tears. "You hate me because I can never be as perfect as you. I used to tidy my room, to try to please you. It was never good enough for you though, so I gave up."

Pearl's cheeks had turned a hue of light blue, as she blushed. Tears had welled up in the corner of her eyes. She stared at Amethyst, not knowing what to do or say. Her lips quivered as she held back tears. "I don't h - even understand why you have half of this stuff." She whipped around and grabbed a hold of a flag pole that suck out from one of Amethyst's piles. "I mean, why on Earth do you need a flag from." She gave the pole a tug, wanting to see what was upon the flag. It wouldn't move, and she grunted as she placed her feet upon the bottom of the garbage tower and gave the flag another pull. It still didnt budge, and Pearl fell flat on her skinny backside. "Oh" She gasped.

The tower rumbled, and began to tumble down. Pearl stared up at it in horror.

"Pearl, move it. Now."

Pearl didn't move.

"Get up!" Amethyst wanted to run towards Pearl and shove her out of the way, but knew that would result in them both being buried under the tower, and then they would be in a pickle. Pearl would be proud of her for not acting rashly.

Pearl couldn't move, petrified, frozen with fear. She stared up at the tower as it fell down on her. Her hands shook as she pressed then against her forehead. "Amethyst, help me." She hissed, before the whole tower, no longer able to support itself crashed down upon her.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Tbh this ended up going where I never expected it to, and idk if I like it, but it is what it is.**

Amethyst gaped at the disintegrated mass of junk and drew in a sharp breath. "Oh my God. P, are you okay?" When she received no response, Amethyst began to lose her nerve a little. "Hey, Pearl, now's not the time to be punking me. You're okay under there, right?" Again there was no reply. At this point Amethyst lost all rational thought. She dropped onto all four of her limbs and crawled to the tower which had entombed Pearl.

She scrabbled at it unsystematically, trying to free Pearl, but to no avail. After several minutes of this she realised that her unconventional technique was not going to work, as all it resulted in was the mess being tossed about within the pile. Amethyst got to her feet, panting, and took a moment to regain her breath. She needed help, but there was no one. Garnet was on a solo mission, Steven was out somewhere, probably with Connie again and Pearl was quite clearly incapacitated. "What would Pearl do?" Amethyst muttered to herself. Pearl would do things in an organised fashion, she thought. She would removed each piece of junk individually, in as safe a way as possible.

Amethyst began to take away the scrap one piece at a time. It was painstaking but it did work. On the occasion that she came across an item too large to remove by hand, Amethyst would pull out her whip, wrap it around the offending object with a pirouette and then heave it away.

To Amethyst it felt like it took hours, but it took merely twenty minutes before one of Pearl's hands became visible. +Amethyst clutched onto Pearl's willowy fingers with her own stout digits. She knew it may have been her imagination, or wishful thinking, but Amethyst was convinced that Pearl squeezed her hand back. "I knew you'd be okay, P. I wasn't worried. At all."

Finding Pearl gave Amethyst a new burst of energy. Before long she had pulled up one last box, which had pinned Pearl's arm against the ground. Pearl didn't jump up and start hurling abuse at Amethyst as she thought she would. Instead she stared up at her with a weird smile on her face. "Rose?" She asked groggily.

"Uh, no. It's Amethyst. What's up with you? Did you hit your - whoa. Okay. That's bad."

Pearl, seemingly spurred on by the fear she saw in Amethyst's eyes, now the size of saucers, pushed herself up to a standing position. "What's not good? I am perfectly fine. This is just further proof that you need to tidy in here. Had this happened to Steven, he would be dead" Pearl said, a smug expression upon her face, and her arms folded.

"P, I don't wanna scare ya, but your gem is cracked." Amethyst said casually, seemingly unperturbed.

"What?" Pearl screeched as she brought a hand against her forehead to assess the damage.

"It's no big deal Pearl." Amethyst sighed. "Steven can fix it." Amethyst stared down at her hands, inspecting her nails.

"No big deal? No big deal?! This is a disaster. We all know Steven's powers leave something to be desired."

Pearl took a few stilted steps towards Amethyst. It was clear she didn't quite have control over her body. However, she still seemed capable to put up a bit of a fight. Amethyst took a few steps back. She was expecting a reaction from Pearl. She expected her to scream at her, telling her it was all her fault. She expected Pearl to try to fight her. She did not expect for Pearl to suddenly burst into tears and throw herself onto her shoulder. "I'm not ready to die." she choked out between sobs.

"P, chill out. You're not gonna die. Steven will fix this, okay?" The notion of Steven saving Pearl with his healing spit was the only thing keeping Amethyst together at that moment. She knew that anything that happened to Pearl would be her fault. Deep down she had known that her room was dangerous, yet she had ignored both Garnet's requests and Pearl's orders to tidy it just because she knew it irritated Pearl.

"I don't hate you." Pearl mumbled. "You're so annoying. But I don't hate you. I think I love you."

Pearl's voice had begun to slur. She sounded quite incoherent. Amethyst sighed and lifted Pearl over her shoulders. "I'm not Rose, P. I think this cracked gem has sent you gaga."

"I know you're not Rose. I'm not blind." Pearl snapped, sounding more like herself. "Put me down Amethyst. I can walk." Pearl demanded, despite the fact that she had gone limp in Amethysts arms.

Amethyst, as usual, ignored Pearl and began to sprint out of her room in the Temple, to the house.

When she entered the house Garnet was standing in front of the door. Her arms were folded and she was scowling at Amethyst. "What is going on?"

"Garnet. You're back." Amethyst said, relieved. "Where's Steven."

"What is going on?" Garnet repeated, more harshly this time.

Amethyst threw Pearl down onto the sofa, by no means gently. "I didn't do it." she said quickly.

"Do not throw her like that. Can't you see that she is dying?" Garnet questioned as she knelt down next to Pearl and gently stroked her forehead.

"She's not dying. She's gonna be fine."

"You are just seeing what you wish to see. Her eyes are glazed over. Her skin is even more pale than usual. She hasn't got long left."

Amethyst shrugged. "So? Steven can heal her. Where is he?"

"He's not here. I sent him on a mission." Garnet said as she raised an eyebrow.

"You knew this was going to happen, didn't you?" Amethyst said accusingly.

"Steven cannot save her." Garnet said with a hint of regret, ignoring Amethyst's condemnation.

"Why not?" Amethyst shouted, stamping one of her feet in anger

"In all of my future vision possibilities, Pearl dies."

"Yeah, well maybe your future visions suck. "

"I will not allow Steven to try to heal Pearl when I know it is impossible. It would destroy him."

"So, what, we're just going to let her die?"

"Yes." Garnet said gravely. "I am sorry, Amethyst."

"Fine." Amethyst growled. "I hate her anyways." She stormed towards the door, and left, with one final glance over her shoulder. Garnet could see the regret and guilt that filled her eyes as she looked at Pearl one last time.

"No. You don't." Garnet said softly as Amethyst left the house.

Once Garnet was certain that Amethyst was no longer in ear shot, she spoke once more. "Steven, you may come out now."

When Steven crawled out of the cupboard that he had been using as a hiding place at Garnet's request he stared up at the tallest Gem with tears in his eyes. "Why did you do that to Amethyst?"

"She needs to learn that her choices and actions have consequences. That girl needs to learn responsibility."

"But that was so harsh."

"I know. But it's the only way to get through to her."

"Do you think she'll ever come back?" Steven asked, sniffling.

"Do you think I would have used this misfortune as a learning exercise if I didn't?" Garnet replied as she ruffled Steven's hair. "Just trust me, kid."

Steven nodded. "Okay. I trust you. But how do you always know the right thing to do?"

"You have experienced my future vision before, Steven. Besides, two brains are better than one." Garnet winked, before sobering again.

"So, shall I do it?"

"No, not yet. I will tell you when."


	3. Chapter 3

**I finished catching up with SU last night and I think all of the angst from the last few episodes found its way into my writing.**

 **Leviman: I'm glad you're enjoying the story. I did continue! Just for you! ;)**

Garnet stood over Pearl, arms folded, and sighed. She looked down at her momentarily before placing a hand over her visor, supporting her head as she shook it. "I told her to keep out of Amethyst's room today." She said with a groan. She used her free arm to beckon Steven towards her. "It's time. Come do your thing, Steven."

Steven shuffled over hesitantly. "What if it doesn't work again?"

"Then Pearl will die." Garnet's voice which was usually calm and even, giving her an aura of serenity and wisdom, cracked as she said this. She didn't want Pearl to die in this way. She knew it wouldn't be what Pearl wanted. If Pearl had to die, she would want it to be in battle. Garnet knew, or at least Sapphire knew, that Pearl could not, would not die like this. No, her true death would be much more maudlin. However, seeing the current events as irrelevant, even trivial, compared to what was to come Sapphire did not care to share this knowledge. She didn't think about how her friends must have felt at the time. She was just taking what she felt was an opportunity to, in the long run, make the Crystal Gems an even stronger team. Although Sapphire was cold to the current events, Garnet was not blind to the way Steven flinched when she bluntly told him the facts. "I believe in you though." She added quickly.

Steven nodded. "Yeah! I can do this." He said, trying to sound confident although the doubt that he was filled with could be seen in his eyes. He brought his hands up to his face and looked at them dubiously for a second then licked them both until they were covered in saliva. He placed his hands upon Pearl's gem. Nothing happened.

For a moment time seemed to freeze. Neither Garnet or Steven spoke or moved. They just both stared at Pearl, praying that this was just a late reaction.

When it became apparent that the cracked gem wasn't going to be healed, Steven pulled his hands away from it quickly, as though it had scalded him. He looked guilty. He felt worthless. The one time Pearl really needed him to come through and he had failed. He didn't get it. His powers worked for stupid stuff like making Connie see better, but when it really mattered he was useless. Steven also felt angry. Angry at Pearl for getting herself into this mess. Angry at Amethyst for acting like it was no big deal. Angry at his mom for ever sacrificing herself so that he could be born. Most of all, he was angry at himself for never living up to Pearl's expectations. He might have just been a dumb kid, but every time Pearl had looked at him he could see in her eyes a small amount of hurt and regret as she wondered why Rose had chosen to leave her and give her this inferior model as replacement. Every time he did something wrong, she would snap at him as if he should know better. The truth was, everyone expected him to be good as Rose. but he never could be. "It's because I'm half human, isn't it? If I was a real gem, I could do this. If Mom was here, she could do it" he said, sounding dejected.

"Steven, you need to remember that you hear about your Mom from the people that loved her most. We don't tell you the bad parts. Your Mom was never perfect. I am sorry if we ever make it seem that way."

Steven opened his mouth, about to argue on behalf of his mom before shrugging. "She could still heal Pearl if she was here. My powers are useless."

Garnet placed a hand upon Steven's shoulder and squeezed it tightly. "Your powers are not useless. You just haven't figured out how to use them yet."

"Exactly. Useless." Steven muttered.

"Steven," Garnet said with a sigh, "You are not perfect. That is okay. None of us are. I'm certainly not. I'm beginning to think that I have made a mistake with Amethyst. Ruby and Sapphire did not agree upon the matter."

"Y-you're not gonna split again, are you?" Steven stammered, remembering the ruined breakfast table.

"No." Garnet chuckled. "I'm ... we're not angry. Just scared."

"Pearl isn't gone yet. We have to figure out a way to save her."

"I'm sorry Steven. You were our only hope."

"But, we're the Crystal Gems. We'll always find a way." Steven shouted, pumping a fist in the air.

"Hmm." Garnet was silent for a moment. Steven wondered what Ruby and Sapphire were discussing. "There may be a way. Sapphire believes that your powers are strongly connected to your emotions. This may be difficult for you."

"I'll do whatever it takes. Pearl would have done anything for my mom. Now it's my turn to do anything for her, "

"Pearl would do anything for you too. She cares about, and not just because of who you used to be. She doesn't realise it yet. But she will one day." Garnet said knowingly, with a hint of sadness in her voice.

Steven smiled when Garnet said this, not picking up on the fact that it had made her sad. "So, what do we do?"

Garnet sat down on the floor and crossed her legs underneath her, lotus style. "Sit down Steven. We need to talk."

"If it's about the missing bubbled gems, that wasn't me. That was Amethyst. She wanted to -"

"I don't want to hear it." Garnet said, holding a hand up to stop Steven's rambling. "We will talk about that another day. Pearl's time is growing shorter. We need to get this show on the road. Now sit." Garnet pointed to a spot on the floor in front of her, which Steven sat down on ungracefully,trying to copy Garnet's lotus position.

"I am sorry Steven." Garnet said, whilst removing her visor. "I didn't want it to come to this. Tell me, how does it feel to know that is Pearl dies it will be your fault?"


	4. Chapter 4

Steven looked up at Garnet, staring into her third eye. Garnet rarely removed her visor and whenever she did Steven could not take his eyes off of Sapphire's eye. It was just so cool. And also vaguely hypnotic. When he stared into the eye, he was almost drawn into it. It made it seem as though nothing around him mattered. It made him forget what was happening. It made him feel calm.

Realising that Steven had been captivated by her third eye Garnet promptly replaced her visor. She cleared her throat. "Steven?"

"What?" Steven asked, not quite back in the room although the hypnosis had been broken. "Oh, yeah. Right. Feelings. I guess it's really scary. I don't want to imagine a world without Pearl. Who would do all of my laundry?"

"Be serious, Steven." Garnet said sternly.

"I am being serious. Pearl loves doing chores. If she ... Garnet, do you really think it's my fault if she dies?"

Garnet said nothing. Steven couldn't see her eyes behind her visor, but her was sure that she was was staring at him, hard. Then he noticed the single tear that was trickling under her visor and down her cheek. It was the first time he had ever seen Garnet cry. It made him realise how serious the situation was. It made everything seem more real. He hadn't wanted to accept the possibility that Pearl might die. "Yes." Garnet said, very quietly. It was a lie, but she knew that Steven's powers were linked to his emotions. She despised lying to Steven. She despised lying to anyone, but she knew it was the only way to save Pearl.

However if Garnet, usually so together, was crying then it meant the possibility of her death was very real. He jumped up from his spot on the floor, tears in his eyes and started to run around the room aimlessly. He wailed as he went, tears spurting from his eyes. "She's going to die. Pearl's going to die, and it's all my fault."

Steven's wailing didn't last for long. Garnet placed a strong hand upon his shoulder. "Steven, stop. Pearl is not going to die. I think you should try again." She picked Steven up and carried him over to the sofa where Pearl lay, looking even more pale than before. She placed him down on the floor gently. "Try again."

Steven, this time feeling the urgency to heal Pearl's gem, placed his slobber covered palms over it again. This time he knew it had worked, as he felt the power tingle through his body. He let out a sigh of relief before collapsing on the floor. Within seconds, he was drooling as he fell into a slumber.

Garnet sat on the floor next to him, leaning against the sofa. She held her head in her hands, relieved that Steven had pulled through, but also disgusted at what a mess she had made of things. At that moment she felt like a fraud. Ever since Rose had given up her form for Steven, she had been the one that kept the Crystal Gems together. Amethyst, Pearl and Steven all looked up to her and followed her advice. This made Garnet feel strong and powerful, so she continued to share her advice and wisdom. It wasn't always correct though, but her friends failed to see that. They failed to see that. They failed to see that sometimes she needed to be told no. She could see that Steven would be angry at her later, for her actions towards Amethyst, and rightly so. It would have been better if Steven had felt able to tell her no in the first place. The kid had clearly been uncomfortable with the plan. If he had known how uncertain Garnet had been that his powers would work then he would never had agreed. But Garnet had this way of acting like she knew all, when all she really knew was that anything is possible, even the worst eventualities. They just had to try to make the choices that prevented them.

With a groan Garnet pulled herself up from the floor and walked over to the front door. She opened it slowly, and walked out onto the porch. She watched for Amethyst returning, but there was no sign of her yet.

Garnet stayed out there for an hour, just watching, hoping that Amethyst would return soon, though knowing in her gut that she had hurt Amethyst deeply and she wouldn't be coming home any time soon. She felt a presence behind her, which broke her out of her trance, and turned to see Pearl. "Good. You're awake. How do you feel?"

"Actually, I feel really great. The last thing I remember is a pile of Amethyst's … stuff," Pearl spoke with disgust when she said the word stuff, "collapsing on me. Do you happen to know what has happened since? I don't appreciate having gaps in my memory."

"You're gem was broken. Steven healed it." Garnet was no longer looking at Pearl, and had continued to gaze out into the horizon, watching for Amethyst.

"Steven? Oh that is great." Pearl blushed with excitement. "His powers are developing even farther than we could have hoped."

"I had to tell him I would blame him if you died" Garnet said distastefully. "His powers cannot be relied on"

"Oh." Pearl said with a small frown. "Where is Amethyst? I need to tell her that I don't blame her for this. Of course, if she had of listened to me it wouldn't have happened. Why does she never listen to me?" She sighed.

"Because you never listen to _her_." Garnet snapped.

Pearl was taken aback by Garnet's tone, and took a step back almost as though she had been physically slapped. "I _do_ listen to her."

"No. You don't. How many times has she told you she's happy with her room the way it is. I told you to stay out of there today. But you didn't listen." Garnet said these words so forcefully that they came out as a growl.

"I'm sorry. I was just trying to protect Steven. It could easily have been him, you know? He is always in her room, though I can't imagine why."

Garnet shrugged.

"Where is she?"

"Not here."

"Garnet, what did you do?"


End file.
